Robert Thomas Gilhuly

Robert Thomas Gilhuly died of prostate cancer on August 26, at his home in Cos Cob. He was born in Belmont, Massachusetts, May 7, 1930, son of Bernard Gilhuly and Helen Keane Gilhuly, the second of their four children. He attended Fairfield Preparatory School, which his mother had been instrumental in founding, graduating in 1947. He received his BA from Holy Cross College in 1951 and continued his studies at Yale Law School where he was honored with admission to the Order of the Coif. He considered his experience at Yale life-changing and remained a generous, loyal alumnus all his life.

In 1954 he joined the Army and served as a first lieutenant in the Judge Advocate General’s Corp, working at the Pentagon as part of the Legislative Drafting Group for the Cordiner Committee, which restructured the Army’s pay program.

In 1957 he married Anne Kilby at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington and began a new chapter of his life, moving to Stamford and then three years later to Greenwich, to practice trust and estates law with Cummings & Lockwood. He was a partner in that firm until this year, a relationship of more than 55 years. During those years he was active in the local and state bars, but he was especially active in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He was Chairman of the Connecticut chapter and served for many years as Regent of the College. He was also a fellow of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law.

All the while he was involved in town affairs in Greenwich: President of the Old Greenwich-Riverside Community Center, member of the Representative Town Meeting, a member of the Board of Health, head of the Old Greenwich School Building Committee. Thereafter his volunteer work for the town centered on the Board of Estimate. He served on that Board for 18 years, and as Chairman of its Finance Committee.

The Stanwich Club was another of his favorite institutions; golf—along with gardening—was his great passion. He and Anne joined the Stanwich Club in 1962 just before the golf course opened. Bob served the Board in several capacities and as President in 1981-82, then legal counsel in the years that followed. In 2008 he was named Honorary Member for his long and distinguished service to the Club.

Not only was he a source of wise counsel to his clients and a leader in the community, Bob was a much loved father and grandfather; he is survived by his wife Anne, five children and thirteen grandchildren, his brother William Gilhuly of Fairfield and his sister Ann Littlejohn of New York. His children are Morgan, managing partner of his law firm, Barg Coffin Lewis & Trapp, in San Francisco, married to Monique Parrish; Ned, founder and principal of Sageview Capital in Palo Alto, married to Karen Hoffman; Peter, a partner in Latham & Watkins in Los Angeles and manager of its West Coast bankruptcy practice, married to Namhee Han; Daniel, a building contractor, fine carpenter and poet, in Saugerties, New York, married to Deena Rae Turner; and Kate, Associate Professor in the Department of Classical Studies at Wellesley College, married to Mark Bush.

A mass will be celebrated at St. Catherine of Siena in Riverside, on Saturday, August 31, at 11:00 a.m. Burial will follow at Putnam Cemetery on North Street in Greenwich.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Greenwich Hospital Home Hospice, 5 Perryridge Rd., Greenwich, CT 06830, or St. Joseph’s Church, Attn: Fr. Gilbert D’Souza, 85 S. Main St., Norwalk, CT 06854.